There are blades for work vehicles, such as dozer blades, which are heavy and have blade lift eyes traditionally positioned atop the blade at the longitudinally opposite ends of the blade. As is well known, a hoist (e.g., an inverted Y-shaped hoist) may be coupled to the lift eyes to lift and move the blade in order, for example, to aid in installation, maintenance (e.g., the blade pivot points), and replacement of the blade.
The ends of dozer blades, and the lift eyes thereof, frequently become damaged during dozing operations, and the damaged lift-eye area needs to be repaired before a blade can be removed or before further maintenance can be performed. There have been complaints from the field about such lift-eye damage. Further, visibility around the ends of the blade is important to human operators, and placement of the lift eyes on the ends can affect that visibility. In addition, to avoid interference with an inverted Y-shaped hoist, blade control towers mounted near the ends of the blade typically need to be removed before the hoist can be coupled to the lift eyes.